Deepwater Wind asks CRMC to waive application fee

Deepwater Wind has asked the Coastal Resources Management Council to waive an application fee for the proposed Block Island Wind Farm. The application fee is steep.... $700,000.

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It would cover the paperwork CRMC requires to build the proposed five off-shore wind turbines off the coast of Block Island. Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski says the fee is based on standard calculations.

“The fee is actually a formula in CRMC’s rulebook on how you come up with the fee and it’s based on the size and cost of the project," he says. "So a dock next to someone’s house has one fee and an off-shore wind farm has a fee that’s significantly larger than that.”

Grybowski says Deepwater is looking to waive the fee as it contributed more than $3 million dollars to help cover ocean studies conducted by CRMC. The CRMC say it always considers any applicant’s request to waive application fees.

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